Presently I'm working on two books at once, casually or feverously switching from one to the other as I find new material, feel the urge to revise, or rewrite as ideas come and go. But, several years ago, moreso then than now, I regularly submitted articles -- historical, fiction, fillers, jokes, people and community profiles -- to magazines and newspapers.
It was in 1988 when I first had a notion to send three or four short stories to Reader's Digest and I didn't expect to hear from them. In RD's words, "...contributions cannot be acknowledged or returned".
My jokes were crude, the punch line obvious and, perhaps worst of all, they were told in the third person. I do have a copy of one of the first. This is it, uncut: "When American personnel were first assigned to Newfoundland bases just after World War II, they tried to make some jokes on the islanders. One soldier met an oldtimer on the road and asked him, "Did you happen to see a truck load of monkeys go past here?" Without missing a beat, the Newfoundlander replied, "No, but did you fall off?"
Can you imagine reading the above in RD? Perhaps every rule of good writing is broken here: sterotyping, bad grammar, faulty construction and poor taste. Three submissions later and, after careful study of monthly examples, it slowly dawned on me that practically every RD filler is written first person. On the fourth try, my attempt was a story I had heard and this time I re-did the viewpoint.
Still an unresponsive and silent partner gave me second thoughts about it all. I realized the finest anecdote can be ruined if it is badly presented. What seemed funny to me might not crack a smile on someone else, and there is no sure fire way of knowing in advance what will make other people laugh. The fourth and fifth submissions were re-workings of new and old material. The sixth unsuccessful submission in April 1994 was based on a real event.
By this time my work was more concise; every word carefully weighed. Anything extraneous was cheerfully thrown over the side. Persistence for that outlet helped me, as it will help you, develop a clean-cut, no-holds-barred copy.
Then a new room opened up; the door swung quietly one day in a Digest issue which asked for submissions in new feature "Tales Out of School". I had been a teacher for twenty-five years. This time I sent two short pieces written in the first person and based on personal experiences, with a little embellishment.Orphans, I believed they were, little things sent out into a cruel, harsh world, hoping someone would take them in. The phone rang. My unseen reader was alive and well in Montreal and professionally pronounced "...your story is to be published in September's magazine and your payment is in the mail." Months went by and still no story, no cheque. Finally, early in 1996, there came a letter and payment saying your anecdote is in February's issue, (1996) page 145.
It was an in-between job that was a real boost to my ego. It made me want to shout, "Hail Columbia". I continued to work on more significant items: a two-hundred plus page book entitled Vignettes of a Small Town with the last twenty-four months spent editing, revising, adding new information, putting on the final touches, and re-editing.
Today I submit to (and I urge you to submit or at least visit) Readers Digest for it's a site worth viewing not only for the humour and information, but there you can find an outlet for your short stories.